The 2026 Draft Thread - 1st Round - 7th overall

[clskinsfan]

Utah pro day tomorrow. We need Spencer Fano to have a good day and get a better arm length measurement. If that happens, he will get pushed back into top 6 consideration.

There is a whole lot of chatter about Freeling going to Cleveland right now. Could be a smokescreen. But it's crazy how fast he flew up draft boards.

 

[Voice_of_Reason]

When I saw how fast Styles was, my immediate thought was "this is the future"....

I'd rather have him then Tate, honestly...nearly every QB in the NFL is a mobile threat now....Styles would be the ultimate QB spy in this new era in that context.

I hear all that but we absolutely have to build the receiving corps. And we need a young prospect in that room.

I get that you don’t want to teach or draft for need.

However if it’s close you go with the player at the more premium position and at a position of need.

Both of those things are going to factor into the grade in some way.

If it’s not close or they have questions, you absolutely do not do that.

 

[DWinzit]

Talk about players moving up the draft boards, I saw a couple that had Thieneman going 12 and 17. He is moving up faster than gas prices.

I hope that is BS, when I started bringing his name up before the combine he was an early second rounder. I'd say this will also lead to Clark not making anyplace near the 3rd round

 

[Voice_of_Reason]

There is a whole lot of chatter about Freeling going to Cleveland right now. Could be a smokescreen. But it's crazy how fast he flew up draft boards.

As many FO people have said, the “flying up boards” is a media (most Mel Kiper) made up phenomenon.

It might be the media catching up to teams or it might be media group think (one guy says “I like player X, not a lot of people talking about him” and all of a sudden all the draftniks HomeTrust him)

But from all the FO people who I’ve ever heard speak about this, players don’t fly up or down boards in March and April.

 

[DogofWar1]

Freeling to the Browns seems like the -110 favorite to be the pick. It does make sense.

I'm hoping, HOPING, the Browns take him, that guarantees that one of my top 5 make it to us.

The "Vegas -110 odds" on picks now is probably like 1/Mendoza, 2/Reese, 3/Bailey, 4/Love, 5/Styles, 6/Freeling, 7/Tate, but Bailey and Styles could swap at 3 and if that happens then I imagine Tate goes to 5, and we become the favorites to land Bailey. The 3rd option is Bailey goes 3rd and the Giants take Tate anyway and Styles drops.

Any of those 3 is exciting. Styles is the least exciting but he's gonna be a force multiplier on defense.

Honestly, if we pick Styles I'm calling Wagner and finding a way to keep him in the building, I want him mentoring this dude. That or just hire Fletcher as assistant linebacker's coach or something. Just get one of Wagner or Fletcher in the building to help teach Styles.

 

[DWinzit]

The way this draft appears to be playing out, AP is going to receive a lot of calls as pick 6 is made. He could find himself with an offer he can't refuse. Personally, I hope he listens openly to all of them. It doesn't sound like he did that last year.

 

[Canuck]

I think we see 2 OL (ARI & CLE) go before our pick, we will have a chance at a good player.

 

[DogofWar1]

The way this draft appears to be playing out, AP is going to receive a lot of calls as pick 6 is made. He could find himself with an offer he can't refuse. Personally, I hope he listens openly to all of them. It doesn't sound like he did that last year.

I feel the opposite.

The one trade I thought could legitimately happen would be KC from 9 for Love. If Love goes 4, that's out.

Reese is penciled in at 2, Love penciled in at 4, and if we pencil in Freeling at 6, that leaves Styles/Bailey/Tate/Downs and maaaaaaybe Bain/Delane as like "good" picks at 7, depending on how you feel about Bain/Delane.

But is anyone trading up for an ILB (Styles)? Probably not.

Bailey? Ehhhhh probably not because there are a lot of pass rushers likely to go in the 1st round, you can just grab one of them and keep the picks. Same thing goes for Bain unless you don't care about his arms and think he's the 2nd coming of Myles Garrett, but again, that's tough to see.

Downs? He's a safety. Sorry but I don't see a trade up for a safety.

And WR (Tate) same thing, lots of guys with 1st or near 1st round grades. Why blow a bunch of compensation for a guy?

Like you'd need a team to LOVE one of them to the moon and back, HATE everyone else at the position, AND be far enough back that they have no shot at the guy to fall to them. That's a lot of things that have to go right.

 

[Always Commander Never Captain]

I think we see 2 OL (ARI & CLE) go before our pick, we will have a chance at a good player.

That would be amazing. But supposedly it's an open secret that NYJ will take either Reese or Bailey, and ARI will take whoever is left. It really feels like picks #1-4, and then #6, are basically set.

 

[burgold]

View attachment 14403

Measure quick, damn you! This hurts more than you think and it doesn't last!

 

[Always Commander Never Captain]

My own tier list. If we're talking about true Blue Chip Talent...I've only got 3 guys

Tier 1: Blue Chip

• Reese, Love, McCoy
  • McCoy's knee worries means he can't be drafted this high

Tier 2:

• Mendoza, Bailey, Tyson, Tate, Styles, Fano, Bain
  • Tyson's injury worries means he can't be drafted this high
  • Fano is a Guard, so he shouldn't go in this tier either
  • Bain's arm length is such an outlier it scares him out of this tier too

Tier 3:

• Downs, Mauigoa, Thieneman, Delane, Howell
  • Howell's arm length means he can't be drafted this high, he also needs the right scheme

Tier 4:

• Ioane, Faulk, Sadiq, McNeil-Warren, Mesidor, Banks
  • Mesidor's age worries means he shouldn't go this high
  • Banks injury worries means he can't be drafted this high either

Haven't looked at Freeling. I want to look at Iheanachor and Lomu again too.

 

[method man]

Talk about players moving up the draft boards, I saw a couple that had Thieneman going 12 and 17. He is moving up faster than gas prices.

I hope that is BS, when I started bringing his name up before the combine he was an early second rounder. I'd say this will also lead to Clark not making anyplace near the 3rd round

Who is behind Clark for you? Stukes?

 

[Chris 44]

The way this draft appears to be playing out, AP is going to receive a lot of calls as pick 6 is made. He could find himself with an offer he can't refuse. Personally, I hope he listens openly to all of them. It doesn't sound like he did that last year.

If Love somehow makes it to pick 7 I think a number of teams will certainly look to move up. I just have a hard time seeing Love making it to us though and if he did the temptation to stand pat and take him ourselves will be great...going to take a nice offer to let him go..

 

[Commander Wraith]

I feel the opposite.

The one trade I thought could legitimately happen would be KC from 9 for Love. If Love goes 4, that's out.

Reese is penciled in at 2, Love penciled in at 4, and if we pencil in Freeling at 6, that leaves Styles/Bailey/Tate/Downs and maaaaaaybe Bain/Delane as like "good" picks at 7, depending on how you feel about Bain/Delane.

But is anyone trading up for an ILB (Styles)? Probably not.

Bailey? Ehhhhh probably not because there are a lot of pass rushers likely to go in the 1st round, you can just grab one of them and keep the picks. Same thing goes for Bain unless you don't care about his arms and think he's the 2nd coming of Myles Garrett, but again, that's tough to see.

Downs? He's a safety. Sorry but I don't see a trade up for a safety.

And WR (Tate) same thing, lots of guys with 1st or near 1st round grades. Why blow a bunch of compensation for a guy?

Like you'd need a team to LOVE one of them to the moon and back, HATE everyone else at the position, AND be far enough back that they have no shot at the guy to fall to them. That's a lot of things that have to go right.

I think the possibility of KC trading up for Love went up in smoke after getting Walker in FA.

My best bets as of now for teams potentially trading up with us - Love (no red flags, elite grade) and Tate/Bailey (positional value, arguably don’t have the level of red flags that come with Lemon*/Tyson and Bain, and are quite possibly a tier+ better than other, later prospects at their position).

Of course, IMO there’s a high chance Love is gone, and a pretty good chance 1 or both of Tate/Bailey are gone as well. Teams will also have personal preferences (variance of interviews, scheme/team fit, etc), which muddies the water.

*the whole interview thing is somewhat tricky to evaluate from where we sit, which is Lemon’s big (but not only) question mark.

 

[DWinzit]

Who is behind Clark for you? Stukes?

I am not certain but I have interest in Wheatley and Stukes

 

[heisenberg]

The dolphins have come out and put the achane rumors to rest, saying he is not available.

Of course we all know sometimes thats a smokescreen to increase value but it does create a little subplot.

We've been debating for months now the positional value of a running back versus wide receiver to determine if we should take a good receiver or an elite running back and the dolphins have just made a statement on that front.
Trading waddle and hanging onto achane sends a little message as to where they stand on a good receiver versus an elite back.

Not that the dolphins are a model franchise at the moment.

 

[Skinfanjon]

The dolphins have come out and put the achane rumors to rest, saying he is not available.

Of course we all know sometimes thats a smokescreen to increase value but it does create a little subplot.

We've been debating for months now the positional value of a running back versus wide receiver to determine if we should take a good receiver or an elite running back and the dolphins have just made a statement on that front.
Trading waddle and hanging onto achane sends a little message as to where they stand on a good receiver versus an elite back.

Not that the dolphins are a model franchise at the moment.

Stupid teams do stupid things.

There’s no debate to the positional value. All anyone needs to do is look at their salaries. Pretty clear WR >>>>>> RB.

 

[KDawg]

Stupid teams do stupid things.

There’s no debate to the positional value. All anyone needs to do is look at their salaries. Pretty clear WR >>>>>> RB.

Cost and cap wise, WR is far more premium than running back. Agreed.

Impact wise? Depends on your back. But an argument can be made that RB is more vital.

So there is an odd dynamic there of mixing cap value and on field impact.

When a receiver clearly has both it’s not really close all things considered.

Jeremiah Smith is as close to a no brainer as you can get right now.

 

[heisenberg]

Stupid teams do stupid things.

There’s no debate to the positional value. All anyone needs to do is look at their salaries. Pretty clear WR >>>>>> RB.

Yeah i dont think there's any doubt that talent being equal wide receiver is considered a more valuable position, hence the huge disparity in pay and compensation in trades.

When talent isn't equal though the value swings to getting equal impact on the field while saving millions of dollars in salary.

Hypothetically speaking if I could choose between alec pierce right now at 28.5 million per year or Bijan Robinson at somewhere around 20 which is the top of the running back market right now im taking Robinson and its not even close for me.

 

[KDawg]

Yeah i dont think there's any doubt that talent being equal wide receiver is considered a more valuable position, hence the huge disparity in pay and compensation in trades.

When talent isn't equal though the value swings to getting equal impact on the field while saving millions of dollars in salary.

Hypothetically speaking if I could choose between alec pierce right now at 28.5 million per year or Bijan Robinson at somewhere around 20 which is the top of the running back market right now im taking Robinson and its not even close for me.

I’m with you. I think all of these rules are too hard and fast sometimes. And they require a bit more nuance.